DeadClans: Series 1 Book 2
Prologue Three cats sat around a pool in a forest full of stars. "Once Deadcat brings all the cats together and tells them that they need to be part of her clan, we will give her, her nine lives," stated a dark gray tabby. "But Songbreeze, what if some of the cats won't join the clan?" "Then, Deadcat will have to try and convince them or succeed without them Berrystar," commented Songbreeze. "We must guide them as best as we can. They are our only hope for getting rid of the curse," meowed the third cat. "Yes we must Goldensky, yes we must," Chapter One "Do not, I repeat, do not go into the other clan's territory, we don't need you scaring off every cat," Nightwhisker's words rang in Deadcat's ears as she waited by the BerryClan border. "But what if Blackfall doesn't come by?" had been her answer. "He will eventually come by; you just need to be patient," So here she was, bored at the SnowClan, BerryClan border. She and Nightwhisker had already agreed to tell one cat from each clan to meet them at Talltree. Nightwhisker had already told Graycloud, and Deadcat had told Lionwhisker the night before. This was her second day sitting there. "No border patrols seem to be coming by," noted Deadcat that morning. "Maybe something happened," Nightwhisker had answered. "Why don't you sit here and wait?" "I am actually suppose to be alive and therefore need to go on border and hunting patrols," So, Deadcat had spent until sun-high sitting there and she was considering giving up. Leaves rustled to her left and she peered through the forest. Sorrelcloud, Spidersky, and Fallenpaw walked by. Fox-dung thought Deadcat, No Blackfall "Where are we going to patrol, Sorrelstar," Sorrelstar!? No wonder why I haven't seen many patrols, their leader died "Let's get away from the border, so we don't chase any prey over the border," "Okay," The four cats left, leaving Deadcat alone. She looked around bored as the sky began to set. "Blackfall," hissed Deadcat as a dark cat moved in the night. "What are you doing here Deadcat?" meowed Blackfall. "In one sunrise, go to Talltree, okay," "Okay?" "I have to go bye," Deadcat ran across the territory to go meet Lionwhisker. Chapter Two "Is everyone here?" called Deadcat looking around with her red eyes. She sat on a branch near the bottom of Talltree. She noticed Nightwhisker glance around, "Where is Graycloud?" he called over to Garlicfur. The tortoiseshell she-cat turned her head to look at him, "Milkstripe had her kits yesterday, and she wanted Graycloud to look at one of them. She said once she was done she would come straight over," "Anyone else?" inquired Deadcat. "You almost forgot me," commented a cream tom emerging from the ferns around the clearing. "That is why I am asking, Lichenbreeze," answered Deadcat folding her tail over her paws. The clearing was silent for a moment until rustling signaled the arrival of Graycloud. The moonlight shone on her gray tabby pelt as she padded along to the font of the cats. She sat down next to Lionwhisker and looked up at Deadcat. "Cats who have gathered here, you all have a purpose for being here this evening," Deadcat paused to breath in. Anxiety threatened to take her over as she began to speak again, "StarClan has told me to make my own clan and to have cats who aren't scared of me, join it," Worried murmurs spread throughout the cats. "How do we know you are not just doing this to get noticed!" spat a tom. Deadcat glanced at the rows of cats, to see Lichenbreeze standing defiantly in the back row. "We know she isn't, because we told her to make the clan," Deadcat turned to her left to see that a slender golden she-cat with stars in her pelt was sitting next to her. "And who are you?" hissed Lichenbreeze. "I would prefer if my daughter's deputy's son was more respectful of me," she meowed leaping gracefully to the floor, "I am Songbreeze, Snowstar, Moonstar, Berrystar, and Featherstar's mother," Deadcat remembered back to before she had red eyes, listening to stories of when Adderstar was in power. Songbreeze wasn't mentioned much, mainly her daughters were, but Deadcat remembered the name. The she-cat turned back to Deadcat, her blue eyes shone with starlight and she had a white stripe above her head, "I have come to tell you it is time to receive your nine lives," She then turned to the rest of the cats, "You are to wait here until she returns," Deadcat jumped down to the ground and padded after Songbreeze towards the MoonClan, FeatherClan border. The golden she-cat easily slid past the forest as Deadcat hurried after her. Deadcat kept her eyes on the StarClan cat's white tipped tail. "Stop," stated Songbreeze, lifting her white ears. She sat down on her white paws as she stared into the forest. "Where are we going?" asked Deadcat. "To the Moonboulder of course," meowed Songbreeze, "Where else we you go to get nine lives?" Chapter Three "This is the Moonboulder," Deadcat looked ahead to see a starlit boulder in front of her. Willow trees surrounded the boulder, protecting it from the wind that now began to blow above her. "Now what do I do?" asked Deadcat. "You press your nose against the rock," answered Songbreeze. Deadcat turned to ask Songbreeze if there was anything else she needed to, but Songbreeze had disappeared. Deadcat turned and lay down. Pressing her nose against the Moonboulder, she fell asleep. Waking up in a forest of stars, Deadcat noticed rows of cats in front of her. About half of them were kits. Nine cats stood closer to her then the rest and Deadcat noticed Berrystar and Songbreeze standing among. Songbreeze padded forward, her golden fur gleaned with stars. "Are you ready to receive your nine lives?" Uncertainty came over Deadcat. She didn't have any experience in being a leader. She didn't even have an apprentice yet. I need to do this, she reminded herself. "Yes," "With this life, I give you courage. Use it to defend your clan with your life," Visions of battles flew through her head. Pain shot through her and her vision faltered. Songbreeze padded away to sit with the other cats. A tiny golden kit with white paws walked up. She looked like a miniature version of Lionwhisker. The only difference was her red eyes. Applekit said a voice in her head. "With this life I give you justice. Use it to decide the fates of cats in your clan," Pain shot through Deadcat. She felt agony of being punished for something she didn't do. By the time Applekit was back in the rows of cats, another kit walked up. She was white with tiny black flecks. Frecklekit Her green eyes reminded her of Hawkflame. This must be his sister she noticed. "With this life I give you love," The pain of losing kits and loved ones shot through Deadcat. Her fur felt like it was on fire. She looked up to see Berrystar walking over to her. "With this life, I give you trust," Suddenly, Deadcat felt peaceful. A small ginger she-cat padded over to her. "I am Reedstar, leader before Adderstar. With this life I give you compassion," Deadcat felt warm spread all through her as Reedstar walked away. A black she-cat with green-eyes headed towards her. "I am Blacknight, Nightwhisker's mother. With this life, I give you humility," Deadcat suddenly say that the forest wasn't big at all. The world was so much bigger. A small brown tabby kit with red-eyes headed towards her. "I am Hawkflame's other sister, Jaykit. With this life I give you hope," Deadcat felt as if she was flying, as she saw the forest from StarClan's perspective. She turned to see a gray tabby kit with amber-eyes head over to her. "I am Bumblekit, Graycloud's sister. With this life I give you patience," Deadcat began to feel content, just standing there with nothing to do. A gray kit with amber-eyes and a white chest trotted over to her. "I am Flowerkit, Graycloud's other sister. With this life I give you loyalty," Deadcat looked around as Flowerkit walked back to the rows of cats. "Deadstar, Deadstar, Deadstar!" announced StarClan. Chapter Four Deadstar emerged from the bushes to see everyone had waited patiently for her. Lionwhisker jumped up onto his paws as he saw her, "Deadcat!" "Its Deadstar now," she reminded him. She padded through the cats as they congratulated her. Arriving at Talltree, she leaped up and landed on the lowest branch. "Cats of DeadClan, we now have to go to our new territory," "Where are we going to live?" asked Icestorm. Deadstar turned to see her, “The blood forest," The cats below her shifted their paws uncomfortably. "No clan cat has been there since the battle that gave the stretch of forest its name," called Blackfall. "The battle was before we were born," Deadstar reminded them, "The reason no clan cats live there now is because they are scared of the past," She jumped down from the tree, "That is where I am going to go, so if you don't want to, you can always go back to your original clan," Deadstar headed the opposite direction from the Moonboulder and onto the MoonClan, FeatherClan border. She began to head more into MoonClan's territory to avoid a river as ferns rustled behind her. Turning, she saw, Graycloud, Poppyflower, Nightwhisker, Lionwhisker, Hawkflame, and Lichenbreeze. She motioned for them to be silent and she continued forward. The willow trees on her left disappeared as she entered farther into FeatherClan's territory. As she exited FeatherClan's territory, she entered the Blood Forest, now DeadClan's territory. "We have to find a place for a camp," she meowed shoving past bushes and ferns. Oak tree branches shaded her as she neared the middle. "Hey, what about over here," yowled Graycloud. Deadstar looked behind her to see Graycloud head through some trees. Turning around, Deadstar padded after her. The trees stopped and a clearing appeared. On each side of the clearing were hollow trees. "This would be perfect," stated Deadstar, "But we would have to add onto the dens as the clan got bigger," "That shouldn't be too hard," commented Lionwhisker emerging from some bracken, "Didn't Adderstar have a camp in the Blood Forest for his followers when he was alive?" Deadstar glanced around, "Well, at least it is a place to live," Graycloud noticed a plant with blue star-shaped leaves and hairy leaves. Deadstar watched as she padded over and pulled some of the plants out. "Borage," Graycloud explained to Deadstar, "Now I need a place to put it," "How about over here," Deadstar turned to see Icestorm exiting out of a tree hollow. Blackfall and Garlicfur followed. "So, you decided to come after all," commented Deadstar padding over. "Yes, we did," answered Icestorm. Graycloud hurried over, and entered the tree hollow. This would be a perfect medicine cat's den!" Deadstar's red-eyes glimpsed Blackfall, as he investigated the largest tree, "This could be the warriors den," Deadstar glanced around at the remaining tree hollows. We still need a nursery, elders den, leader's den, and apprentice's den. Deadstar padded until she came to a hollowed oak tree. Sticking her head inside, she noticed it was the smallest den, just big enough for one cat. "Leader's den!" she called. Hearing paws steps behind her; she turned around to see Garlicfur. "We have also decided on a nursery, elders' den, and apprentices' den," she announced. "Good,” replied Deadstar, "We will explore the territory tomorrow," Chapter Five Deadstar opened her eyes. Stars surrounded her, and in front of her, was a very familiar cat. "Songbreeze!" "Deadstar, I have a task for you, at the next full moon, you need to introduce yourselves to the other clans at the gathering," Deadstar widened her eyes, shocked. "But, what if they refuse to recognize us as a clan?" "That is your job," responded Songbreeze, "Make use of what you have," Deadstar opened her eyes again, to find herself back into her new leader's den. I have to introduce DeadClan at a gathering? But how am I going to do that? Then Deadstar remembered what Songbreeze said after. But what do I have? A fair amount of warriors, some territory, and a medicine cat. That's when she decided on a plan. "Cats of DeadClan, gather here for a clan meeting," She watched as her cats piled out of the dens. "Whenever you see a patrol, when walking along the border, introduce yourselves. DeadClan isn't going to be a clan in the shadows, we need to be known." "But what if they attack us?" asked Poppyflower. "We survived a night in the Blood Forest, and outnumber a few of the clans; do you think they would dare attack us?" Poppyflower shifted her paws uncomfortably, "I guess," Then I want Blackfall, Lichenbreeze to explore the FeatherClan border area. Graycloud, do with them and look for herbs. Garlicfur, and Nightwhisker, you'll take the other borders. Lionwhisker and I will explore the heart of our territory, while everyone else will hunt." Chapter Six Deadstar narrowed her eyes as she entered a lighter part of the forest. Lionwhisker followed behind, and she was glad she had taken him along. He had already found a few good hunting spots, and they had even caught some food to be taken back to the camp later. Also, she wanted him to be her deputy, and wanted to inform him before she told the entire clan. Deadstar suddenly stopped; the scent of a foreign cat came to her nose. "Do you smell that?" Lionwhisker paused and turned to her, "It smells like a rogue cat, they probably took it over after they realized the clans didn't want it," Deadstar nodded, "We should convince them to join our clan, and if that doesn't work, then chase them off. I'm going to ask them now," "Shouldn't we at least go back to camp to bring another cat with us?" "I'd rather ask now," Lionwhisker looked slightly worried about not having gone back to bring another cat with them, but Deadstar still went on ahead. After a few more steps, they arrived at the entrance of a small tunnel. The scent leads inside it, along with two other cat's scents. Deadstar started down, as she began to regret her decision. The smell began to get stronger, as she continued through the hole. The light began to fade, and she started to struggle to see. Noticing a lighter part of the tunnel, she continued forward. Going into the light, Deadstar noticed that the light was coming from a hole in the tunnel above her head. Glancing behind her to make sure Lionwhisker was keeping up, she began to walk through. Noticing a cat in another spot of light, she stopped. "Hello?" The cat, a brown and ginger mottle she-cat, turned towards them, slightly raising her fur, "What do you want?" "I am Deadstar, leader of DeadClan, and this is Lionwhisker. I was wondering if you would like to join my clan." "Clan?" "Its group of cats that take care if each other, there's a leader, a deputy, queens, who nurse kits, apprentices who learn how to hunt, and fight," "Can anyone join?" "Anyone who will be loyal," "Hey! Who is that chubby cat!" called a gray and white mottle kit as he walk from behind the she-cat. Chubby? "Sorry," meowed the mottle she-cat, "That's Snowshoe, my dead sister's son. Snowshoe, I thought I told you not to insult other cats," "But Autumn, it's not fun being down here!" "Go play with your sister," "But Petal doesn't want to play with me!" "Then go take a nap, I'll play with you later, okay?" "Okay!" Snowshoes raced off leaving them alone. "I'll think about it, I need to discuss it with Snowshoe and Petal's father, Blizzard once he gets back. I will tell you not too long afterwards," "Okay, see you later," Deadstar headed back through the tunnel and into sunlight. After walking about halfway back to camp, so stopped. Lionwhisker turned to her. "Why are we stopping?" "I want for you to be my deputy, and I wanted to inform you before I told the entire clan," "I would be proud to be your deputy," Chapter Seven "Lionwhisker, Lionwhisker!" Deadstar listened to the cheers of her clan as she finished announcing the new deputy. Jumping down from a branch of the leader's den, she turned to look out of camp. All of the patrols she sent out reported that no patrols from other clans seemed to go along the border next to their territory. "We did make sure to mark our territory just in case they decided to check their borders, but I don't think really any cat has been in there in a while," Blackfall had commented. Deadstar had grown concerned about it, what if she didn't make her clan known before the next gathering. She would walk into the clearing with her cats, with none of them knowing what was happening, and Deadstar didn't want the other clans to panic. Panic could make them attack her clan, and she didn't want to start a war. But then again, it wasn't like any of them would attack her. Though, it still didn't help not to be known at all before the gathering. Deadstar sighed, Why does everything have to be so complicated? Looking for advice, she decided to head towards Graycloud's den. Entering the hollow, she sat down, waiting for Graycloud placing a last leaf on a pile of herbs. The gray tabby medicine cat turned around to her leader, "Is there anything you need?" "I need advice," "Advice on what?" "How to figure out how to introduce DeadClan at the next gathering," "Follow what your instinct tells you to do," Deadstar stood there remembering her first idea seemed to have been the worst. "But, just walking into the middle of the gathering with an entire clan with me at the lead of it, will just cause panic," "If that is what your instinct tells you to do, then do it," Deadstar still didn't like the idea, but it wasn't like she had any other idea in mind, and she trusted Graycloud. "Okay," Just as she turned to leave, Graycloud stopped her. "Have you told Lionwhisker?" "Have I told Lionwhisker what?" "That you’re expecting kits," "I'm what!?" "I guess that is a no," "But what about the curse, is it going to affect my kits even though it didn't affect me?" "I'm not sure, but whatever happens, don't ever reject any of them, like your mother did to you," Chapter Eight It was two sunrises before the gathering, and all Deadstar could think about was what would happen if her plan didn't work. Sure, she trusted Graycloud, but that didn't mean she was always right. Though even after moons of thinking, that was still basically her only option. Her patrols still reported no signs of cat on their border. Deadstar even thought of the possibility of battling one of the clans just to get noticed, but the air was getting colder, signaling the arrival of leaf-fall, and then leaf-bare. She didn't want to leave any cat in her clan or in an another clan injured during this time. Also, being a little less than a moon away from kitting, fighting wasn't high on the list of things that was going to be easy. She sat inside her den listening to the rustling of the leaves. "Deadstar!" Sticking, her head outside she noticed Autumn along with Snowshoe, a small she-kit she assumed to be Petal, and a tom she assumed to be Blizzard, escorted by Lichenbreeze and Garlicfur. "Autumn, so you have decided to join our clan?" "Yes, I have," "We're letting complete strangers into our clan," commented Lichenbreeze glaring suspiciously at them. "I asked them not that long ago to consider joining our clan, it's obvious they gave it thought, and there are kits with them, it's not like they can take over the clan," Lichenbreeze stilled look uncertain about them, but left to sit with the other cats that had started to assemble. "Cats of DeadClan, I have decided to let these four cats join our clan. I want Garlicfur and Lionwhisker to make sure they know how to hunt and fight properly. The kits will stay in the nursery until they are six moons old," Chapter Nine It was the night of the gathering. Deadstar had never been as nervous as she had been now. Lionwhisker, Nightwhisker, Lichenbreeze, Garlicfur, Graycloud, and Hawkflame were with her. At first, she didn't want to bring Lichenbreeze, since he could be arrogant, and sometimes had a habit of arguing with cats who didn't agree with him. But, he was a wonderful fighter, and since he didn't like to be told he was wrong, he wouldn't act like he regretted to join her clan at all, even if he did. Though Deadstar was pretty sure he did like being part of her clan. Traveling on the border between MoonClan, and FeatherClan, she made sure not to make too much noise, and she purposely was traveling a little slowly. Deadstar and Lionwhisker both had agreed on the fact, they needed to make sure all four clans were there at the gathering. Willow trees started to appear, and Deadstar knew she was close. Peering through the trees, she saw that FeatherClan, MoonClan, and BerryClan were there. Only SnowClan had yet to arrive. After a few moments of waiting, Snowstar entered the gathering, followed by her clan. "Now remember, no starting fights," she commanded before leading her clan in. As she entered the clearing, every eye was trained on her. There were some gasps of surprise, but otherwise it was quiet. Category:Fanfiction Category:Splash's Stories